Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Guō Tiē (锅贴) Jiān Jiǎo (煎饺) or Pot Sticker ?

I was ransacking my fridge yesterday and came across this packet of "Happy Belly" frozen gyoza skins (made in Singapore!) bought sometime ago from Antwerp Chinatown, which I had conveniently forgotten and chucked in a lonely corner in the freezer. I thought, hmmn, His Majesty (my 3 year old son) is in childcare today and Her Majesty (my 5 month old daughter) is snoring away in her baby cot, now is the best time to make some 锅贴 (guōtiē) or 煎饺 (jiānjiǎo) or pot stickers or gyoza, whatever you call it. So what am I waiting for? I quickly jotted down the ingredients I need, checked out a few youtube videos on how to pleat or crimp the dumpling skin, washed my hands clean, put on my apron and started flouring my hands. From start to finish, it took me 60 min to finish the dumplings (2 min per dumpling!). After crimping and wrapping up 30 pot-stickers at one go, I can proudly declare myself a graduate of the pot sticker academy! Practice makes perfect, it's not that difficult after all, provided you use ready-made dumpling wrappers, hehe :)

MethodFor how to pleat or crimp the dumpling skins, you can either refer to wendy's blog or this youtube video. For the dumpling skins, I used store-bought frozen gyoza wrappers which were taken out of the freezer a day in advance, and left to thaw in the fridge overnight.Make sure your hands and work surface of the table are floured and prepare a small bowl of water for wetting and sealing the dumpling skins.I used a metal teaspoon to scoop out 1 teaspoonful of pork/prawn fillings each time, and the total amount of fillings were just right for wrapping all 30 dumplings. Try not to be too greedy and scoop in too much fillings, otherwise you will have a big problem closing the dumpling wrapper each time. These dumplings are meant to be fried in the pan, that's why they are known as Guō Tiē (锅贴) Jiān Jiǎo (煎饺) or Pot Sticker. All of them meant the same thing. For cooking these pan-fried dumplings, heat up a non-stick wok or frying pan at medium heat, add about 2 tbsp cooking oil. Pan-fry the dumplings (with the flat surface facing down, and the crimped surface facing up) for about 2 to 3 minutes until the flat surface becomes crisp and slightly browned. You do not have to turn the dumplings over, continue to let the flat surface face down. Then add 1/2 cup of water, cover with a lid and let the dumplings continue to cook at medium heat until the water dries up. Check every now and then to see if the water has dried up, and if the dumplings are nicely browned. If not, continue to let the dumplings bask in the remaining oil until they are crisp and nicely browned.For the sauces, I prepared 3 simple dipping sauces 1) chinese black vinegar with julienned ginger2) light soya sauce with julienned ginger3) homemade chilli paste (1 big red chilli, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tbsp light soya sauce - blend in food processor until it becomes chilli paste)My hubby said they were very lekker and I think so too!

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